Production Now

Big one here so I’ll probably do a video.  I will do it shortly – it’s been a very awesome beginning to the week.

Made the call.  We chatted about the epic movie ThinkSwitch was going to make for him.  I told him it would be “Lord of the Rings 4″ – he didn’t like the first three…

Meeting was set up instantly.  I realized I was semi-unprepared – there was a part of me that didn’t think it would happen so I subconsciously didn’t get ready.  I had to iron a shirt but the iron was broken.  Thank God for linen.

Went out – was a little late (horrible I know) but I did call.  His office was big – spacious.  The lighting he had was great – it would work well for the backgrounds I had pictured for the shoot.  We got to talking about the market he’s in and how he want’s to be perceived.  I told him what I was going to do – how I was going to portray him and he seemed happy.  We set it for Saturday the 15th at 11:00am.

I suddenly realized that he was trying to wrap it up – seemed like it was a tad premature.  I think I blabbed too much about my procedures – how I was going to shoot him, light him, how he was supposed to memorize his lines – stuff he wasn’t very interested in.  In the future I’ll keep those details to a minimum and just get the client excited about looking like a bad ass – unless they express interest in it.  He probably just wanted to go home, I don’t know – but it was a little weird.  We got up together, shook hands, he confirmed the $750.00 price, told him I’ll see him Saturday, made him laugh with a joke, and I left.

Here we go…  time to write him some talking head script that I will send on Thursday for approval.  I decided not to have a contract signed – seems a little excessive for $750.00.  Instead, I’ll have him respond to an email that states some of the terms I wanted recognized.

Agreement Letter:

1. Outlining the project
2. Client will not disclose the finances involved with the project
3. Master hard and soft copies will be kept with ThinkSwitch
4. Project can only be used for Web based broadcasting
5. Half of the fee will be collected by ThinkSwitch upon arrival of the first shoot location
6. Any additional work not specified in project outline will be subject to new contract and agreement

Of course, I won’t be as literal about all of this in the letter but I wanted you all to get the idea of how it should be in a real world contract.  This project is so small and he’s a lawyer so…  ehh.  Ok – Production Now!

Yesterday, I suspected that I would be meeting Tony’s father through Tony which only means that Tony would be a middle man.  Having a middle man has it’s advantages – in this instance he and I work decently together (at least we’ll find out) – but for the most part a middle man is unnecessary and only causes confusion.  Incidentally, Tony IMed me to tell me to call his father – OK, let’s give him a name…  Barney; Tony and Barney – Tony IMed me to call his father, Barney, at 4:00pm tomorrow (today) about a meeting.  Awesome, I get to plunge into the client himself right off that bat.  The only thing to do is call him in an hour.

You don’t want to miss this call – this is your first opportunity to show him that you are impeccable with your word and your sense of time – two very important things.  Hopefully, the meeting will be for today as I will suggest to him because if we are filming on Saturday we will need to ferret out all of the details.  Meet and greet, location scouting, due diligence on law office and specialties, coming to a clear understanding about the agreement, and nailing down a set date and time for production.  Then will commence writing of the principle copy, interview questions, and shot list.  During approval for the script (if needed) there comes the gathering of materials.

As it turns out, I will be using the assistance of a camera man.  I decided to shoot him as if he were talking to a client – explaining to him the processes and the benefits of having someone on your side in terms of law.  I’m going for the angle of not trying to scare them by saying “If you don’t have a lawyer you’re fucked” but instead saying “When people DO get help there is such a world of difference.”  We will film him as if someone walked in on him giving his shtick to the client but his office happens to be lit well.  To do that I’ll need to ask him questions and then someone will have to film.  So there goes half my $750.00 budget.  Man.

45 minutes or so until I make the first call and hopefully get a meeting today.  If you are also going to your first meeting make sure you look sharp, clean cut, an for christ’s sake remember that you are going to make your client a wonderful video and that they will benefit greatly from it.  Feel good and have them feel good too.  Show up on time, bring a notepad, your demo disc, and have them see that you are the professional you calim to be.  Make yourself that professional Now.

LOGO-TS = Logo-ThinkSwitch

I’ve heard it one too many times.  I thought I could ignore it but the barrage of similar comments that keep coming up the second anyone sees the logo for the first time has finally broke through the ice.  I love the logo too – it’s simple, brandish, and can easily be put on a t-shirt.  Even though I had hired someone to come up with a logo for ThinkSwitch this logo was, for the most part, designed by yours truly – so I am very close to it.  But when people keep asking me or telling me the same things over and over you begin to listen – as well you should.  The sad truth is – the switch in ThinkSwitch’s company logo looks like…  a dong.

To see a brief history of our logo development please click here.  All logos in design history by Brian G Kiser.

OK, so, there it is.  See a penis anywhere?  Looks sharp doesn’t it?  Great classic toggle switch.  I actually get a lot of after comments too – saying how I should go with it besides the fact that it looks like a dong.  I’ve been told that it seems powerful, penetrating, stout.  I’m not sure if everyone in the world is playing a joke on me or not…  Hell, even my graphic designer drew in a mushroom head for one of the versions of the logo that was using the same switch.  What really did it for this DongSwitch was when the gent who helped me with the website, Justin Israel, was working at a high profile graphics house in Burbank he burst out laughing in my IM window because a fellow artist from across the room asked if Justin was surfing a gay website.

So, I decided to look into changing it.  Many people have suggested a light switch – those trapezoidal beige switches…  they look horribe and tacky to me.  So I looked into a light bulb – which is cliche but still clean and classy and one of the original ideas we had come up with (usually your first idea is the best).

Of course, this is a very rough version but already you see problems.  It doesn’t look that bad but I’m so used to reading ThinkSwitch all the time that I didn’t notice, until others had pointed it out, that it looks like ThOnkSwitch.  Ugh….  what a conundrum.

So, I will continue to work with ideas and I will show them to people.  Take people’s advice and criticisim – don’t follow every word, of course, but when you constantly get the same impression from everyone it’s time to give it some consideration.  If you continue to think that everything you put out for the first time is perfect you will fail.  Remember, if you’re trying to be a professional you need to develop your own character or brand and cater it to the mass populace in general – you can beat off on your own time.

AT-ROD = Attorney-(Last Name)

My first potential client!!!

I confess it happened a few days ago so, sorry for not reporting it as it happened.  I had been living with a friend for a couple months – the location where I filmed the first video blogs.  I have since then moved out into a quieter and more personal space.  I’ll also mention that rent is incredibly cheap here – perfect for a budding prod company leader!

So, in my new abode I get an IM from my old roomie, Antonio.  Tony tells me that his father, a criminal lawyer, is ready to make a move and will commence filming on Saturday.  Ha!  My first client and it is he who is telling me the schedule.  I wonder if this is something I’ll have to get used to.

Yes – that’s how the first client came into existence; my old roommate.  Admittedly, I have NOT been selling myself and have NOT been keeping up with my sales team.  I have been balls deep into the website and it has taken all of my time and passion.  I am building up that momentum again so I can hit the streets.  You have to feel good about what you’re doing – remember.  If you’re not stoked about what you’re doing when you’re meeting people they will see right through you – especially the heavy hitters.  If you do feel less than explosively gung-ho about your venture, however, make sure you do something that will grow your business – anything!

Tony had just completed the website for his father and suggested that he accompany it with video.  So this wouldn’t be a commercial – simply an online video – or videos.  The budget? low.  Big surprise, huh?  In the earlier musing about possibly putting a video together for him his initial idea was $500.00.  sigh…  so I quoted $1000 and he snipped me at $750.

So here I am, starting production on my very first client – who wants more than one video – for $750.

I have:
1.  Camera: XL2 with one battery/charger but missing the cord to connect to the camera.  I can only rely on one battery.
2.  DV Tape Stock
3.  Some G-Tape
4.  Black Foil

What I need (minimal):
1.  Tripod (anything will do)
2.  Small Light Kit (3 point lights preferable with maybe one pepper)
3.  Wireless Mic

What I would like:
4.  CTO Gel Roll
5.  Track Dolly
6.  Taco Cart (with all the trimmings)
7.  Camera Man
8.  An Assistant
9.  AC Power for the Camera (nice huh?)

You heard right – it’ll just be me there shootin’ this guy.  I’m sure I’ll be able to acquire the assistance of Tony to help at no cost because he knows how much money I’m not making here.  Luckily, however, so does the father and he knows that we will be doing minimal work on the project.

Essentially, we’ll take his logo, do some quick, flashy motion stunt with it and slap together a smooth cut of him talking his head off.  The secret is in his performance and in the shots we get.  If he has enough persona and the shots look good you have a stand-up show.  As simple as it all is there still is a lot of work involved and he is defiantly getting his money’s worth.

Him being the first client I will go way above and beyond to make it work.  To send out a clean, polished product at the price he’s getting should make him very happy and more than willing to blab to his friends.  There will be an agreement, however, stating that he can not disclose my fee for him to anyone because if that happens I will forever be making $5000 productions for $750.  Remember: start small, think big.  They may set your price and your schedule at first but just blow them away with the final product and consider it a favor.  Bank on that making you look real good.

Tomorrow I will research his website and call him for a meeting to look at his office and nail down the terms.  Real easy, nonthreatening discussion.  Sit down – shake hands – and find out what needs to be done from there based on the info he gives…  when I know you’ll know.  Let’s do this.

TOT:  Totally Off Topic

Sometimes, just sometimes, more often than I’d like to admit, I like to take time off production and focus on other things.  So, today in particular I would like to introduce a section of blogs on some off topic…  uhh … topics.

Sometimes, just sometimes, I have no desire to think about production, making phone calls, where to get a tri-pod, blah blah blah.  I love to cook, read, think about life, philosophize, and I like to talk about it.  I mean, life is to be enjoyed along side with working.  Merging the two into one can be an amazing feat and should everyone’s goal as well.  Being good at production, that all fine and good, but if you want to forever work under someone else’s ideas and conquests well – you’re not really a producer are you?  There are things I love and will someday produce shows on them!  Nutty huh?

So, screw it, here we are.  Today I had a Jones for chicken wings.  Now, I like to cook mind you – so I would be making these wings myself rather than running over to KCF for some stomach trouble.  I like to make things from scratch and these wings will be made properly.  Deep fried or oven baked to a crisp skin then coated in a menagerie of sauces that I can’t seem to be able to make a decision on.  I want two flavors – one classic buffalo and the other some sore of ginger or teriyaki fare.  I simply went onto YouTube and typed in “Chicken Wings” – and there were so many inspiring posts that it threatened my decision making process further.

Ok – this wasn’t super exciting but I felt like writing about chicken wings cause I am excited.  I will do you a favor and categorize these as TOTs and you can just skip over them if you please – but even you need a break every now and again so lighten up and piss off.  God, I love cooking.

The website is finally done.  I promise you I have been working on it this whole time and I feel terrible for not updating in the blog world.  Thank God I’m done too.  The logo, the website, and business card; my life has revolved around getting these assets together so I have no more excuses but to get out there and get that client.  It’s been a while and I’ve been ready to go.  I admit my passion has gone down a bit since it’s just been festering but now there is nothing else.  The site looks great and I am satisfied at it’s current state.  It should serve ThinkSwitch nicely.

So, hopefully it won’t take you this long to get it together – I have a tendency to knit pick everything so I’m sure I took more time than the average Joe.  The idea is to stop at a certain point because I know I could just keep going and going and going on this thing; I guess the same is true in production as well.  I will get my act together and start delivering some more of the ‘right stuff’ on here.  It’s not time for the fun part – to begin tackling this things that producers are supposed tackle.  But isn’t it all part of it anyway?

WEBSITE:
www.thethinkswitch.com

DEMO-TS = The Demo Reel for ThinkSwitch

I took everything I had that I would call the best and I put it on one disc.  A DVD to be exact so that our sales team can slip it in the player and satisfy our future client’s lust for more ThinkSwitch work.  It’s tough though when the stuff you’re showing, for the most part, is owned by another production company.  I can’t rightly say that the materials are ThinkSwitch but, since were starting out, I have to show something.  What I’m selling is a team of people who make up ThinkSwitch.  Of course, as of now, I am the only team member putting in creative work.  I am the editor, DP, VFX guy, and director.  The majority of the work I’m showing involves me to the extent that I either edited the whole thing, shot the whole thing, directed the whole thing…  etc., or a combination of all of the above.  Now, if I were to produce any of those works and they would have (and for the ones that I did produce do have) the ThinkSwitch name attached to it…  I could show any part of it as being ThinkSwitch work.  For now, I and only I am ThinkSwitch.  Even the work that IS under ThinkSwitch was done back before ThinkSwitch existed; an old company of mine called Syntax Studio.

We need to hit that first client.  Get that first gig.  It’s getting closer and closer.  The disc itself was made for Yuri and he will use it to get that first one.  Until then, I’m rolling the dice.  On the site you’ll see that I give credit to the production companies that the projects are under and I disclaim that the examples are showing work that was done by the production team.  Be that as it may I will still probably get some flak from other production companies who happen to mosey on my site and see that I’m showing them in such a way.  One company in particular may raise a stink because I am currently in the process of suing them.  I wish I didn’t have to include their work but it’s a collection of work that I edited, directed, and shot for them.  It’s some of the better stuff I’ve done and, besides, this was a company that was taking footage from other sources anyway.  The only original footage in their work, more or less, was stuff that I shot so it’s as close to a production at ThinkSwitch as it’s gonna get (until we do our first one).  Once again however…  I give all credit to the company that produced the work.  ThinkSwitch (me) is just taking credit for what ThinkSwitch (me) did.

OK, I know I mentioned that I had gone to a meeting to discuss an alliance with other artists in the Coachella Valley.  The leader of the pack – so to speak – was a young hot shot Israeli who was selling for a branding and print shop named Yuri.  His work was stellar and I could tell that he had a keen sense for selling and business in general.  He was no bullshit.  Well, maybe there was a little bullshit but the bullshit was thought out and timed perfectly to segway into whatever business needed to be dealt with.  I had met him through my roommate and suddenly, after hearing his name for the first time, he’s in my apartment with a proud and quiet Israeli web designer, Vitaly.  We had thought that we had met each other before but he quickly jumped right into talking about forming an alliance.  Of course, with my recent paranoia from everyone trying to turn 50/50 in the company I was suspicious.  I appreciated his directness and thought that some good would come out of it anyway.  I agreed to a meeting but I knew I had to be prepared for some slick shtick.

It’s funny what happens when people start talking about forming a group.  If it’s backed by some heavy hitters the %age of interest in being involved goes way up.  Suddenly people who had no motivation to start anything instantly think that they’re full fledged artists and businessmen ready to represent something of high quality.  Perhaps I was one of them.  In a nutshell the group was to be consisted of a collection of companies that fit certain aspects of media and entertainment – branding, web design, graphic design, photography, video production, etc. – and there was to be one company per ‘slot.’  I was to be the vid production slot, Vitaly web design, Yuri in branding, and someone who happened to be present during this introduction, Lej the photographer.

Many phone calls preceded the meeting.  I was concerned about what Yuri wanted out of all of this.  Did he want a cut?  Did he want to pay me as a producer?  Did he simply want to tell people he was a producer and could put things together?  So much paranoia when you have no experience.  I was paranoid and I wasn’t ashamed of it.  The task was not letting my paranoia screw it up.  I had to be careful but I had to stay open.  I was ready.

I arrived to Yuri’s office right on time and they were pulling up as well., they being Yuri and Vitaly, the Israeli front.  Yuri’s car had decals and stickers all over it advertising his business.  I asked him if this form of advertising worked out for him and he confidently and quickly said “Yes!”  We walked up above an Italian restaurant to a beautiful little studio loft office where two designers sat at their stations.  It was clean, open, and professional looking.  Instantly they have us admire their new prints and we all agreed they were very pretty.  Lush composites of tomatoes and basil probably forming a bruschetta.

Eventually we all sat down and I pulled out a notepad.  Yuri began spinning everything off and talked about how they’ve been able to start pulling in heavier clients after years of working it.  His idea was to form an alliance of companies that more or less were obligated to refer each other to each other.  They would have a centralized website, name, and perhaps even an office that we would all be liable for.  The name would be a central location for all of the subsequent names that filled the certain levels of creative artistry.  All the work that was done from which ever company would put it’s own name on it.  So if I got a job from the collective and I produced a video it would, for the most part, be a ThinkSwitch production.

At the end of the day each company would find clients, conduct business as usual, and if they were in need of other services that were out of that companies realm we would automatically steer them towards the other business in the collective.  So if Vitaly created a web page for a client and the client needed a video, then Vitaly would refer his client to ThinkSwitch and vice verse.

I knew right away that I had no way of proving that I would be bringing heavy hitting clients and that Yuri would be the rainmaker in the beginning.  So, I wondered what was in it for him.  I naturally assumed he would just want a cut and to be quite honest I had no problem with that.  “There will be no cuts” he said, “We will just trade services with each other and scratch each others backs.”  Made sense, to a certain degree, but those conditions were all details that would have to be worked out in the future.  There would also be no entity, or company name that was owned by anyone.  However, if the collective voted for something a majority would rule out; in essence, a board.  It would be a club, a prestigious club that we would all honor and respect.  I liked the idea, it reminded me of an old company I started called Something Directory, a video website like You Tube but videos were accepted based on votes from members.  Very posh.

I was satisfied and it seemed most of my concerns were addressed.  Of course, nothing would begin right away because Yuri’s company was swamped with an ad campaign so there would be no alliance yet.  I was still on my own until further notice.  We got up, mingled about the other participants, looked at the bruschetta one more time, walked down the stairs to smell cooked tomatoes form the Italian restaurant below, and went to eat so much meat form a Brazilian restaurant it made me want to give it up all together.  Since then I’ve been creating my own website and anxious to get out there!  I need to hit the streets and start selling myself.  Armed with the website, the logo, and the business card will be the beginning.  This alliance will up ThinkSwitch’s value significantly – if it’s done right.  It’s going to be a lot of work but isn’t there always?  As the deal pans out and we sign up and form this union I feel like many many good things will come.

It’s been about a week and a half since the meeting and I figured I would would be getting a call from Yuri to start something or other.  Just as I forgot about the whole thing the phone rang last night.  He’s ready to roll with a production and he wants me to put together a demo DVD to show some Dr.s in the area.  Wednesday will be the day Yuri and I meet with my new materials.  So the website will continue and now I must put together a demo disc.  Yee-Haw!

I don’t mean to keep harping in on this subject – especially since I wrote about it on the last post – but I am now learning about the fallbacks of doing things yourself.  As you may have read in my last post I had been forced to learn a web design program and build my own website.  This came in lieu of not being able to find someone who I could make a good enough deal with to get it done in the way I thought it should be done.  Templates be damned for something as important as this!  But I did want to show everyone where I was in terms of this website and also let you know if it’s been worth it so far to tackle it myself.

As of tonight it’s been about 20 hours of work (not including a day of training) to get THIS far (I have taken out the video content for space reasons).  In my humble opinion it is coming along nicely, it seems like I have about…  two to three full days of work to get it done (16 – 24 hours).  I see that there are probably ways that I can make it more…  organized and efficient – such as PHP or more Java – but you know what?  I’m not a web designer so I’m gonna write it out long hand and get it done!  So let’s get down to it…  is it worth it so far?  Well to be honest – I’m not done with it yet but I wanted to share with you my feelings on the subject now.  So here are the pros and…  yes…  the cons:

There you have it. Now I know the list looks all funky but that’s one of the points I have – web design is funky.  Out of everything I’ve learned web design is one of the most unorthodox in-congruent practices I’ve yet to encounter.  I mean, I know that you may feel like you can do anything and you probably can, but it just takes time to do anything and time is probably the only asset you have right now.  I’m not saying that it’s totally, painstakingly agonizing to make your page, no!  In fact, it’s pretty damned fun.  But it can be really daunting too – especially since you prolly have slim to no knowledge about programing HTML.  On that note it would behoove you to find someone you can reach out to for help when in need.  There are many times when I am so close to understanding something but I just can’t figure out the last piece.  It is a god send to have a technical buddy you can talk shop with – and in this case I’d love to thank Justin Israel for assisting me in this.  He is a technical guru in the field of….  well anything really and he is currently working in Los Angeles as an FX artist.  Check him out.

I would say the unexpected advantage in doing this, however, is that it almost is like a blueprint for your business.  You have to have content to fill the site so as you’re filling it you’re forced to ask yourself very important questions.  Who is really on your team?  What services will you offer?  How can you manage to show work that you’ve done with other companies without making them mad?  What is the image that you want to portray?  These are all very important subjects that can be somewhat ironed out when you design your page and can make you more clear as to what’s really going on.  For instance, if you put up someone as an editor and they call back pissed off that you have them on your site…  well then you’ll know where you stand with that guy.  It will be interesting to see what happens.

So, it seems that the pros out-weight the cons – and they probably do – but it would be a close fight. The fact that it takes so much of your time can be the main drawback. To me it seems I have to give it the site the attention it needs because it is a tool that can make your company look very slick or very shitty. If you have a website, logo, and business card that all flow together and look clean and classy you should be well on your way. I know that after doing this I will not decide to stop everything to learn a new program to get something done myself but this was just too important and it had to be done.  Sometimes, it’s just what you have to do to get it done and I suggest you do it – otherwise you won’t be doing anything.